A system for training and coaching field and court sports, and more particularly, for baseball and soccer for children.
Organized youth sport""s teams have almost doubled in the last seven years and have created a steep demand for new coaches. Reliable estimates place the total number of volunteer coaches this year in the U.S. in excess of three million. A large percentage of these people are completely unqualified. Many have not engaged in the sport for 20 years and have zero experience teaching children. In sports like soccer, some have never even seen a game on television let alone kicked a ball around. Many leagues are now starting to require coaches to attend training clinics.
Indeed, a whole industry has sprung up to teach fledgling coaches, and about 200,000 new coaches are trained every year. In some Little Leagues, coaches have to attend five meetings and classes during the year, umpire at least two games . . . and soon may have to pass a comprehensive test. New instructional books are coming out every year. Internet coaching sites are appearing with tips on everything from badminton to lacrosse. Nevertheless, not surprisingly, the average coach""s career is short-lived, usually about two to three years, that is, while the coach""s child is engaged in the sport.
There is prior art for use by coaches of various kinds of boards that simulate baseball or soccer or other types of sport fields and courts. However, these are designed for the use of a coach and do not directly involve the beginning and intermediate 6-12 year-old child who is learning the sport. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,946,134 Neilson discloses a rigid transparent sheet representing the playing area overlaying a player assignment sheet upon which player simulated figurines fashioned to represent football players in different stances are placed indicating the different playing positions. The movement of the ball carrier and other players can be indicated by drawing lines on the transparent surface.
Baldine in U.S. Pat. No. 2,579,105 discloses another game teaching apparatus comprising a foldable gameboard having magnetic sheeting covering the board whereby magnetic playing elements can be disposed on the board. Furthermore, these magnetic playing elements have a chalk-holding ability for indicating the direction of their movement.
Neufer et al in U.S. Pat. No. 5,827,072 disclose sports-related instruction boards having transparent surfaces on both sides between which first and second graphic display panel surfaces can be permanently sealed inside the board structure. Various boards are used for soccer, basketball, football, and baseball. A writing instrument containing dry-erasable ink is removably attached to the board surface.
Each of the above, as well as others which could have been cited, have a gameboard upon which player figurines, magnetic or not, can be placed and which can be written on to illustrate movement of the players. These boards are primarily used by coaches but are inadequate by themselves to teach the younger and intermediate player. To teach the various levels of beginning field sports, there must be interaction between the coach and the players. Furthermore, especially for the very young players of T-ball, for example, who can not yet read, black and white drawings do not work well. The young child needs a visually realistic image in order to fully comprehend the subject matter. Consequently, this must be reflected in the elements used if the learning experience is to be maximized.
It is therefore an object of the instant invention to provide a system which can capture and hold the attention of beginning and intermediate players while teaching the fundamentals of the sport.
It is another object to provide a simulated magnetic-reactive and write-on surface for diagramming tactics or xe2x80x9cchalk talk.xe2x80x9d
It is a further object to provide magnetic figurines that can be moved to teach positions and defensive strategies.
It is yet another object to provide magnetic name holders for containing cardboard inserts for identifying players on the team for use on the magnetic surface.
It is also an object to provide color-coded flash cards for grouping into categories to teach children basic concepts of the game: such as the field, the players, offensive skills and techniques, defensive rules and techniques, and advanced strategies. Blank cards are needed for coach customization.
It is an object to provide an answer key explaining all the concepts on the flash cards. No previous experience is therefore necessary to teach the basics of the game.
It is a further object to provide materials which are photo-realistic for better visualization for the very young player.
An object is to provide a method of playing a tabletop baseball board game.
This system for training beginning and imtermediate players in baseball basics comprises the following elements: a game board means having a simulated, realistically colored baseball field illustrated thereon; a multiplicity of miniature magnetic figurines; a multiplicity of magnetic name holders having therein spaces for the insertion of player name cards; a multiplicity of flash cards; and an answer key including a plurality of images of a baseball field.
The method steps of said system comprising: identifying the parts of said baseball field on the game board means by each player; placing said minature magnetic figurines in the correct position on the game board; placing said magnetic name holders having name cards of said players inserted therein in correct position on the board; displaying said flash cards having questions in the form of concise terms thereon by the coach; soliciting responses to said questions from each player; and reading said answer key to determine correctness of the response from said player.
In this instant system the game board means further includes a magnetic-reactive, write-on surface, having scoreboard and at bat lineup portions thereon for teaching parts of a field, positions of players and diagramming strategies. Said miniature magnetic figurines include sufficient representations of each player type; and said multiplicity of magnetic name holders further comprises player name cards for insertion into the slots therein. Said multiplicity of flash cards include concise terms thereon grouped into categories to teach children basic baseball concepts. Said answer key includes a plurality of images of baseball fields and the definitions of those terms posed on the flash cards. Said plurality of images of a baseball field comprises a first image including numbers only for player positions thereon and a second image having written descriptions of the parts of said field thereon.
The instant invention also embodies a system for training beginning and intermediate players in soccer basics wherein the parts of said system comprise not only the same kinds of elements cited above for baseball, but also the same kinds of method steps. Rearrangement of the elements and method steps of the instant invention results in the invention of a method of playing a tabletop baseball board game which is also disclosed.